Ghosts, Cannibals and Eaten Dreams
by WatchingCircinus
Summary: A series of one-shots based on the most disturbing pokedex entries.
1. Phantoms Lost

**Phantoms Lost**

Snot and tears rolled down Charlie's cheeks as he wandered through the forest.

"Mummy?" he said, edging his thumb into his mouth for comfort. His lip quivered. "Mummy, where are you? I'm scared. I want to go home."

The trees loomed over him, their branches blocking out the sky. Their trunks were so thick he couldn't see anything but dense, endless forest. He stumbled across the mossy ground, feet catching in gnarled roots and sliding over the uneven ground. From low hollows slitted eyes watched him, unblinking and hidden.

A noctowl hooted and Charlie jumped, fresh tears wetting his face.

"Mummy I don't know where I am. I want to go home."

Ahead he saw a clearing with a single, lopsided stump. He tottered towards it, slipping on the leaf litter, one of his shoes coming off.

"Mummy?"

The sounds of the forest enveloped him.

...

"Charlie? Charlie where are you!" Esme yelled, dashing through the trees. Her husband jogged alongside her, shining the torch into thickets and at the base of decomposing logs.

"Esme, slow down, he might be hidden somewhere and we won't see him at this pace."

Esme rounded on him. "Darryl, our son has gone missing, he's not playing hide and seek. We have to find him."

"Calm down."

"This situation doesn't call for calmness! This wood is haunted. You know what the stories say."

"Those are just stories – you're letting panic get the better of you. Charlie will be fine, we'll find him."

The two parents lurched between the trees, shouting their son's name. The darkness grew thicker.

...

Charlie awoke with his face resting on the grass. He felt numb from cold, strangely dislocated from his surroundings. He heard the noctowl hoot but it didn't make him shiver. His head was stiff, oddly rigid, and yet his body felt transparent. He sat up, rubbing his eyes.

The stump had gone. Above the clearing the stars still shone, cold and distant like the lost souls of children.

From the ring of trees came the sound of snapping twigs and low voices. Charlie tried to stand up, but couldn't feel his legs. Instead he had the sensation of floating, drifting away from the earth. He panicked and shut his eyes.

"Charlie!" shouted a voice. Two people came crashing through the underbrush, their faces wild, arms streaked with dirt and scratches.

"Mummy," Charlie said, but the words came from his mouth garbled.

The woman froze. "What's that?" she said to her husband, pointing into the clearing.

Charlie turned around, but the space was empty.

"Mummy," he said again, but his voice emitted only a low wail.

"It's a ghost," said the woman, taking a step backwards. Charlie noticed that she had a small, white shoe dangling from one hand.

"You found my shoe," he said, drifting forwards.

His mother and father looked stricken, and the torch beam swung into Charlie's face.

Charlie shielded his eyes with one hand – only, it wasn't a hand anymore. he hovered on the spot, staring at the ghostly black material that had taken the place of his arm. He screamed, and the noise went on and on, an unearthly wail.

The noctowl hooted.

"Let's get out of here," the man said, taking his wife by the shoulders.

"No, Daddy, it's me," said Charlie. The two people seemed unable to hear him. They turned and ran, and he followed, finding that his body glided through the air with ease. Wind slipped through his ethereal form, and bounced off the hard surface of his face.

"Get back," shouted the man, waving the torch. "I have pokemon. I will attack you."

"Daddy," said Charlie, tears coming into his eyes.

The terror in his father's face, the anguish in his mothers, made him pause. As he floated there they collected themselves and disappeared into the forest.

Charlie drifted down to the mossy floor, scrunching into himself. His body shook as he sobbed, tears sliding into the cracks of his wooden face.

There was a flutter of wings, and a noctowl landed beside him.

"Wha-what's going on?" Charlie asked it.

The noctowl turned its head to one side. "You're a ghost," it said.

"But I don't want to be a ghost. I want to go home."

The noctowl ruffled its feathers. "There is no home for you anymore. You are lost, in more ways than one. You're a spirit inside a stump, now to wander here forever."

The bird flew off and Charlie remained on the ground, his whole body trembling. An eerie green light glowed from his branches, suffusing the trees, and he felt himself lost in a world that was no longer his own.

...

 _Phantump, Pokedex entry Y: According to old tales, these Pokémon are stumps possessed by the spirits of children who died while lost in the forest._


	2. Happy Halloween

**Happy Halloween**

Gourgeist looked out through the privet hedge, across the road to where a line of carved pumpkins sat in a row on a neat lawn. The hollowed heads leered with a flicker of candle light, empty plant skulls cut into grotesque shapes. Gourgeist quivered with anger. She flexed her hair-like appendages and waited.

As the sun dipped towards the horizon and orange light washed over the houses, Gourgeist emerged from the bush. Children were filling the street, dressed up as pokemon or their favourite league champions – one held a purple balloon with a drifloon face drawn on it, another had her hair dyed green and stuck up like a Mr Mime. An enterprising young girl was even wearing a mimikyu costume, replete with patchy stitching and a floppy head. Gourgeist slipped out amongst them, her pumpkin lips glowing.

"Wow, that's a cool costume," said a little boy, tugging at her arm. Gourgeist smiled down at him, bearing her teeth. He laughed and scurried away.

It didn't take long for her to find a quieter cul-de-sac. Three gangly teens stood at one end, laughing and swinging a wooden pole up and down. Around their feet was the pulped remains of the pumpkins they were smashing, plant flesh flecked on their shins. The street was otherwise deserted.

Gourgeist swept towards the boys, her jagged mouth opening and closing in anticipation.

"Hey, look at that – a real live pumpkin," said one of them, pointing at her. The other two laughed and kicked one of the jack-o-lanterns to the curb.

"Want to join us?" the youth said, pointing at the carnage. "It will be, you know, ironic."

Gourgeist grinned, her eyes flashing. She pulled herself up to her full height and approached them.

The boys stepped back slightly, their smiles wavering. "Hey, you're not a creeper are you? Say something, weirdo."

Gourgeist opened her mouth wide, but didn't make a sound. Quick as a flash she stretched out her arms, wrapping the three boys tightly. They kicked and shouted, squirming like hooked worms, but she had them pinned.

"What the hell are you doing?" one of them yelled, and she wrapped feathery strands of her arms over their mouths. Turning, she glided back down the street, dragging them behind her. There was a large bush on the corner, and she pulled them inside.

The boys were sweating – Gourgeist could feel their wriggling, vulnerable flesh beneath her grip. Gently she wiped the broken bits of pumpkin from their legs, her fine hairs tickling their skin. Unable to delay the pleasure any longer, she opened her mouth.

Gourgeist was not a skilled vocalist, but she had learned a few choice human phrases.

 _Let me carve your flesh, let me devour your insides_ she sang, watching the boys struggle. _I will eat your souls, your guts, and leave your skin for decoration._

One of the boys was crying, tears rolling down his cheeks. Gourgeist licked her lips.

 _Don't worry, my fragile prey, this is just the circle of life. Rejoice, and be happy._

She sung, a blissful tune that filled the street with its melody, as she widened her jaw.

 _I sing my pleasure as I scoop out your insides. I will enjoy you, and then you will be gone._

The teens shuddered; one of them fainted away, his head lolling grotesquely. The other two kicked their legs, wrenching their torsos from left to right, but it was no use; as children on the other side of the bush went door to door in their costumes, Gourgeist sunk her teeth into the teenagers flesh, feeling their blood run over her tongue. She devoured them piece by piece, all the while singing, the joyous tune floating on the Halloween air as the silent screams of her prey died away.

...

 _Gourgeist, Pokedex entry Y: It enwraps its prey in its hairlike arms. It sings joyfully as it observes the suffering of its prey._


End file.
